Content : Introduction
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EU law and the hospitality industry
The hospitality industry is subject to rules at local, national, EU and, sometimes, international level. HOTREC is responsible for monitoring and influencing, on behalf of its members, rules which are decided at EU level.
These rules cover a large number of areas: VAT, human resources, food hygiene, environment, competition, and so on. There are also several areas where the EU institutions have not – yet – adopted binding rules, but could decide to do so in the future. These areas include smoking in public places, fire safety in hotels, food labelling in restaurants, and hotel classification. In the sections on individual policy areas, HOTREC’s positions on these and other issues are summarised.
It is important to emphasise the link between EU and national legislation. Often this link is not easily visible as much of EU law consists of so called Directives, which only becomes binding on enterprises following implementing legislation at national level. The individual entrepreneur might not realise, therefore, that the national legislation his or her business must abide by actually has a European origin.
Understanding the extent to which the legal and business environment of hospitality enterprises is influenced by EU rules is, however, crucial in two regards. First, the knowledge that the EU institutions are considering a measure enables the hospitality industry to request amendments, or even a withdrawal, to the measure in question at as early a stage as possible. Second, it is useful to be aware that national rules must conform to EU law. This can provide the necessary ammunition for criticising burdensome rules at national level, which might not fully comply with EU measures.
The EU Institutions
There are three main institutions which take part in the EU legislative process: the European Parliament, the Council of Ministers, and the European Commission.
The European Parliament has currently 785 members (MEPs) which are directly elected in elections taking place every five years. The number of MEPs from each Member State varies according to the size of the respective countries’ populations.
The Council of Ministers consists of the representatives of the 27 national governments. It meets in different formations depending on the issue at hand: finance ministers decide on taxation matters, employment and social policy ministers on social matters, and so on. In most cases, the Council of Ministers takes decisions by majority vote but in a few areas unanimity is required, e.g. taxation.
The European Commission is made up of 27 Commissioners, one per Member State, which are supposed to work solely in the interest of the EU as a whole.
Legislation is, in most cases, passed jointly by the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers on the basis of a proposal from the European Commission. In some areas, e.g. taxation, the European Parliament only has a consultative role.